Medical Cannabis, Feb.08 – Doctors Call for Rescheduling of Marijuana

Headline: Feb.16.08 – Ease Up on Marijuana, Doctors Group Tells Feds– The largest group of internal medicine doctors in America, the American College of Physicians, has endorsed using Cannabis for medical purposes and is urging the U.S. Congress to remove it from Schedule One (which stipulates a drug as having no medical use) of the Controlled Substances Act. The ACP Position Paper (PDF) also calls for protection for doctors and patients in the twelve U.S. states that have legalized medical marijuana, now suffering raids and intimidation at the hands of the federal government.

Americans for Safe Access, a nationwide patient advocacy organization, is also calling on Congress to respect the will of the voters regarding medical marijuana, cease interference in the doctor/patient relationship and let people have access to a natural, God-given medicine. In this video, Dr. Mitch Earleywine, author of Understanding Marijuana, examines the prohibition of medicine and Rebecca Saltzman, Chief of Staff of Americans for Safe Access, explains ASA’s role in reforming medical marijuana laws and supporting patients and providers in the face of federal raids.Cannabis Dispensary Information Pt 3, presented by DrugTruth.Net

At a Drug Enforcement Administration Symposium in November 2, 2007,MAPS staff member Lauren Anderson Payne asks DEA Deputy Admin. Joseph Rannazzisi what it will take for the DEA to allow research with true medical grade Cannabis in the United States.Second Set of Questions ot DEA Medical Marijuana

Ironically, the federal government grows Cannabis ( not medical grade) and sends it to several legal patients on the “Compassionate I.N.D. program (closed to new medical marijuana applicants since 1991).

Patients Out of Time, an advocacy group for Cannabis as medicine, hosting clinical medical conferences featuring doctors, researchers and the latest science from studies around the world on the efficacy of medical marijuana, sponsored the Missoula Study (with the assistance of MAPS and others), which examined long term use of N.I.D.A.’s low-grade Cannabis by these legal patients. At the 2002 Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeuticsin Portland, OR, Dr. Ethan Russo examines the government-grown marijuana and presents the findings of the study, concluding that even N.I.D.A.’s Cannabis was effective and safe, but that higher grade medicine would be desirable and more effective.Chronic Medical Cannabis Use by U.S. Legal Patients, Part 3

This is not the first time a DEA Administrative Judge has recommended change on the agency’s policy regarding Cannabis. Notable is the 1988 ruling by Judge Francis Young, DEA Judge, in a petition to reschedule marijuana. Finding that Cannabis was”one of the safest therapeutic agents known to man”, Judge Young recommended that marijuana be moved from Schedule One to Schedule Two of the Controlled Substances Act. The DEA ignored his recommendation.

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Thank you, Cannabis TV, for the quick updates. What great news that these physicians have finally come out in support of safe, natural medicine. Let us hope this is a signal to Congress to Finally act on the will of the majority of the public on this issue. No one wants valuable resources wasted on arresting and prosecuting patients!